Tuesday, April 30, 2024

 Tuesday, April 30, 2024

  I had a good night's sleep.  I had no agitation, and I slept well until 4:30 a.m.  When I saw Dean and Nina on my morning walk with Elsa, they updated me on the progress of their chickens.  One is definitely a rooster. They wanted to have four of those guys with the rest hens. They expect a shipment of 18 baby chicks by the end of the week. Nine of them are replacements for the ones that died. The rest are a new order. They are going to have quite a flock. 

   It was an Ulu Wini day. When I arrived, they warned me it was 'store day.'  I assumed they meant it was a day for free food distribution. I didn't understand why this would affect my work with the kids, but ok. It wasn't free food day; it was the day the kids could pick out toys. They built up points for service. Fifth-grade Rosemita had the most points. The kids were excited, but a number were anxious to work with me.

   5th grade M was sitting at the table set up for my work when I arrived. She wanted to work with a group of her friends instead of alone. I understood her desire, but the needs of the children were too diverse to make that possible.  As it wound up, I could have included at least one more girl in the class.  I  had M read a grade-level passage and then tell me what it was about. Oh, boy. Way off. She picked a few words from the passage, and that was it.  I asked her if she visualized the meaning of the words as she read. No, of course not.  There are many reasons for this; being unable to visualize was not one for her. When I asked her if she could visualize her room when her mom told her to clean it, she said yes.  The kids work so hard to read the words and cope with the unfamiliar vocabulary and sentence structure that they have no brain power left to focus on the meaning.  

   The vocabulary and sentence structure are unfamiliar for two reasons. First, English is not their parent's native language. Second, they don't hear complex language, even in their parents' native language. They would need help understanding a unique complex sentence in their language, no less in English.   I worked with her on visualizing the meaning of the words in the sentence.   I can do that with at least two or three students at a time.

   Next, I worked with 2nd grade TC. She reported a dramatic improvement in her reading.  Whereas last time she read Reading Roots 11-13, today she read 26.  The text is mostly one-syllable words with a lot of repetition. Her reading was much better. She didn't once guess a word based on its first letter. She took the time to decode each word and read at a fairly good clip.  Did my work really make that difference?  I know I'm good, but I'm even skeptical that the difference could be from something I did. Surely, the teachers at school continued to help her. My gift is to diagnose and address the problem's root cause.

   The last time I worked with third-grade SP, he was so hyper I couldn't get anything done. He was much better today.  He wanted to work on a story he had read before because he could rely on memory. I pushed decoding. He could retain the sound of a phoneme as he blended. His blending skills were good.  He prefers not to decode because he can't read fluently.

   I find third-grade LE challenging to work with. He's defensive to the point of hostile. He will be a troubled teen and trouble for everyone else. However, his word recognition is good at a low level.  He read the material at a third-grade level reasonably well, if somewhat haltingly. When I asked him what he wanted to work on, he said reading louder.  I had him read one of the stories from Reading Roots on a first-grade level. His reading was smooth and loud enough.  I concluded that he mumbles when he reads to the teacher at grade level because he can't read smoothly, and he's covering for his lack. He doesn't have enough practice at grade level with multi-syllabic words. I hope he comes back so I can help him overcome this minor obstacle.

   I was packing up to go home when I spotted second-grade MI. She's the one I've been helping with math. I called her over. She groaned but came.  I reviewed the place values. The last time I worked with her, lining up numbers for addition on the vertical confused her. We solved this problem today. Maybe I'd better say we made substantial improvement. She asked me to give her another addition problem to identify the place value of all the numerals.  Then, at the end of the session, she became confused again. I hope this doesn't turn her off completely.  I discovered today that she didn't know how to use counting-on. I showed her how. She could do it immediately. She may forget it just as fast. We'll see.

   MI has a problem similar to the one Adolescent D used to have; she blanks out and disappears into space.  He did it so frequently that I thought he should be checked for epilepsy.  He denied he was frightened.  MI denies it, too. Neither can handle the discomfort of not knowing what the teacher is talking about. Well, the more they absent themselves, the further behind they fall, the worse they feel.  What a dilemma. 

   I rediscovered Royal Pains on Netflix a week ago.  I saw it a while ago.  I thought it was pretty silly.  It's a story about rich, beautiful people living in luxury. I needed something light to counterbalance my bad moods. I enjoyed it more with each episode rather than less.  I love the addition of Paige's character and the relationship between Evan and her. They look like what I understand a loving couple to be.  The medical stuff is almost silly. No matter the emergency, Hank always pulls the right equipment out of his bag for the occasion or McIvers a solution. I binge on the series when feeling low.